Fastener secured installation and fastener therefor



Aug. 22, 1944. HMJ. MQ PH Y 356,422

v FASTENER SECURED INSTALLATION AND FASTENER THEREFOR Filed Aug. 27, 1942 I nus-R202:

Patented Aug. 22, 1 944 FASTENER SECURED INSTALLATION AND FASTENER THEREFOR Howard J. Murphy, Greenwood, Mass.,,assignor to United-Carr Fastener Corporation Cambridge, Mass., a corporation of Massachusetts Application August 27, 1942, Serial No. 456,321

6 Claims.

The present invention relates to fastener secured installations of the type wherein two or more parts of sheet material are to be secured together in assembled relation, and aims generally to improve such installations as well as the fasteners therefor.

Illustrative of the invention reference is made to the accompanying drawing showing one operative embodiment of the invention and in which Fig. 1 is a sectional view through a pair of apertured members to be secured together illustrating my improved fastener, in elevation, in the process of being applied thereto;

- Fig. 2 is a similar View of the parts in fastened or secured relation;

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of the fastener per se;

Fig. 4 is a transverse sectional view thereof as taken on the line 4-4 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a plan view of the fastener with parts broken away to show a stop means;

Fig. 6 is a longitudinal sectional view of an installation illustrating the fastener as holding a molding in position; and

Fig. 7 is a transverse section taken on the line 1-1 of Fig. 6.

Referring to the drawing, the improved and novel fastener comprises an attaching member Ill composed of a base II and a laterally offset prong portion I2 having an entering nose l3. Advantageously the attaching member may be formed of a strip of spring sheet metal of desired width having a base portion I I of desired length. A lateral offset bend I4 connects the base II to the projecting prong portion I2, extending longitudinally in the direction of the base but in a laterally offset plane. Preferably, the prong portion I2 is inclined upwardly, in the direction of its nose end, toward the plane of the base II so that the base II and nose I2 lie planes converging beyond the entering nose The base II provides an elongated support for a locking member l5, movably mounted thereon. Obviously the locking member l5 may be of any suitable shape and construction, one simple and efiicient construction being a channel-shaped member having spaced side flanges l6 slidably engaging the base II. The locking member is adapted to be moved on the base II from a retracted position, wherein the prone I2 and offset I 4 are exposed, as in Fig. 1, to an extended position where it overlies the prong portion l2 asinFig. 2.

Suitable means is preferably provided for preventing accidental removal of the locking member from the base, and this may be simply accomplished by slightly closing the extreme ends of the channels as indicated by the bent corners I'I, Figs. 3 and 5, and forming the prong portion [2' and offset I4 of slightly less width than the base to form shoulders l8-I8, so that the base is slidably confined within the closed ends'of the channels I6. I

In a fastener secured installation where two or more apertured members I and 2 are to be secured together, the fastener may be applied in the 'manner illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2. The members I and 2 are first positioned together with their apertures in alignment. When the locking member I5 is in its retracted position the prong portion I2 may be inserted in the aper tures in an inclined position and then tilted to a position wherein the prong is flush with the opposed face of the assembled members. The locking member I5 is then moved forwardly on the base, thus tightly gripping the assembled members within the converging angle between the plane, of the prong and plane of the base. As the slide is moved forwardly over the prong, the prong I2 is gradually flattened under spring tension, thus gripping the members I and 2 under tension.

The fastener of my invention is not limited in its use to merely securing a plurality of apertured members as illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2,

. but may be applied to a single apertured member 4, in the manner above described, in which case the locking member I5 may serve as a base for attachment of a supported member 5. One example of such installation is shown in Figs. 6 and 7 wherein the fastener is secured to an apertured support 4 and the locking member I5 provides an elongated base to which a channelshaped molding is secured by merely snapping or sliding the inturned edges of the molding over the longitudinal side edges of the locking member.

While I have illustrated and described a preferred embodiment of my invention, I do not wish to be limited thereto because the scope of my invention is best defined in the following claims.

I claim:

1. In a fastener secured installation, in 'combination with an apertured supporting means, of a fastener member therefor having an attaching portion formed with laterally offset base and prong portions, said prong portion being elongated and inclined with reference to the prising a strip of metal laterally offset inter mediate its ends to provide a laterally offset 1ongitudinally spaced base portion and an elongated prong portion inclined toward the plane of the base, a locking member slidably connected to said base and adapted in its retracted position to overlie said base removed from said nose portion, and in its locked position to overlie said prong portion in spaced relation thereto, said prong being insertable through the apertures of said supporting means by a tilting action when said locking member is in it retracted position, so that said prong engages one side of said supporting means, and said locking member being slidable on said base to an extended locked position to engage the opposite side of said supporting means opposite said prong, the inclined prong acting as a take-up spring to hold the parts in clamped engagement. 7

w 3. A fastener for use in combination with apertured supporting means comprising a strip of sheet metal reversely bent in an area intermediate its opposite ends at spaced transverse lines to define an intermediate lateral leg portion and elongated prong and base p i ns in ral w h saidleg portion, said prong and base portions extending longitudinally in opposite directions from the respective ends of the leg portion-in laterally spaced non-overlying relation, a locking member of greater length than the base portion, spaced inturned side flanges on one of said locking members and strip base portion slidably embracing the side edges of the other and connecting the locking member for lengthwise movement on said base portion between a retracted position on the base portion beyond the prong portion and a locking position wherein the locking member overlies the prong portion, said prong portion being located entirely on one side of the leg portion and being of blade-like thin form so as to be adapted to be inserted through an aperture in a supporting means for clamping engagement with one side of the supporting means when the locking means is moved to locking position on the opposite side of the supporting means.

4. A fastener for use in combination with apertured supporting means according to claim 3 wherein the base portion of the strip is of greater width than the leg portion and the locking member has inturned side flanges slidably embracing the side edges of the base portion 5. A fastener for use in combination with apertured supporting means according to claim 3 wherein the base portion of the strip is of greater width than the leg portion and the locking member has inturned side flanges slidably embracing the side edges of the base portion, and a channel shaped molding havinginturned side edges making snap engagement with the side flanges of the locking member.

6. A fastener for use in combination with apertured supporting means according to claim 3 wherein the base portion of the strip is of greater width than the leg portion and th locking m m; ber has inturned side flanges slidably engaging the side edges of the base portion, and further including stops formed by deformed portions of the locking member side flanges at the end of such member nearest the leg portion adapted to engage the wider portions of the base portion adjacent the leg portion.

- HOWARD J. MURPHY. 

